Updated April 3, 2023
Introduction to Kivy
The Kivy is defined as a python library that is available as a free, open-source library used for building the cross-platform applications that include Windows, Linux, iOS, Android and other platforms and the look and feel of each application will be different from each other. It was introduced by the Kivy organization that is used for building mobile applications in the Python programming language. The UI given by the Kivy framework helps to develop interactive applications that are user friendly.
What is Kivy?
- Kivy has stated as an open-source library used for developing GUI that supports several platforms that can run on several platforms like iOS, Windows, Android, Linux, Raspberry and many more.
- The application development using this Kivy library helps develop interactive applications with a simple GUI that is easy to use. The main advantage of using the Kivy platform is that the application is developed in any platform, and after that, it can be used in any type of device to help reuse the code and be deployed easily.
- It supports various type of widgets that is developed for multi-touch support. It also supports for the input devices that includes keyboard, mouse, OS type events and TUIO.
- It also supports creating customized widgets using the Kv language.
Why we need Kivy?
- It is a python library used for developing the applications that support various platforms; it increases the use of the library for development purposes.
- There are other alternatives to the Kivy, like HTML5, but still, developers use to prefer Kivy because the interaction design is easy, and the code developed using this library can be deployed easily.
- A developer’s effort can be reduced because code needs to be written once, and then it can be used to develop applications on multiple platforms.
- It is also in need because the widgets used can be customized using the intermediate language named Kv language.
- The other need of it is that it is used for building the desktop GUI applications using the Python programming language.
Importance of Kivy
- It is important as it helps to develop multi-touch applications written in a python programming language that is very fast and robust.
- The Kv language is used for writing the Kivy based program and helps to write the class, widgets and easy to configure.
- The other importance of Kivy is that it is platform dependent. It means the developer’s code can be used on desktop, mobile, or some other platform. The development process is easy as the framework used is rich in touch events that helps to create the application very easily. One developer has a requirement as the code can be used in other platforms that reduce dependency.
- A framework is used to create simple applications for phones, but it is also used for interacting with mobile hardware for rendering purposes. The framework uses the PyGame that help to ease the process of game development.
- Several types of widgets are included in this framework, as it helps create the application prototype very easily. In addition, the widgets can also be made customized as per user requirements that increase the importance of using the Kivy framework for development purposes.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Kivy
There are numerous advantages and disadvantages of using the Kivy platform:
Advantages
- One of the major advantages of Kivy is that it is completely free that can be easily used by the developer for development purposes and can be used for developing any commercial product.
- It is used for developing the mobile applications. The tool supports multi-platform support functionality; it helps develop the project once and can be used in other platforms easily.
- It is completely based on Python programming language that is very powerful and help to create the application in no time. Moreover, the Python programming language is rich in libraries that ease the development process of applications.
- The major advantage of using the Kivy platform is that code needs to be written once, and then the same code can be reused in publishing other applications also.
- The widgets that are in-built with the Kivy platform is easy to use that comes with multi-touch support.
- The performance of the Kivy framework is better compared to other HTML5 alternatives as the GUI is easy to use and help in the rapid development of applications.
Disadvantages
- The user interface of the Kivy platform looks like a non-native. Because of this, the user finds it difficult to use the platform and needs some prior knowledge before using the framework.
- The package size of the Kivy framework is too large that it needs extra time to download it from the internet. The size is large because the Python interpreter comes with the Kivy package that increases the size of the package.
- The community support of the Kivy framework is poor. The community size is very small, creating a problem for the developers as they need to wait for their queries and support from the community.
- The documentation of the it is improper which creates difficulty for the user to use the framework. As the documentation, it will help ease the use of the platform, and if it is improper, it will create difficulty to use the platform for developing applications.
- Several competitors provide the functionality to create mobile applications and have better community support, like React Native, which is a powerful alternative to the Kivy framework.
Conclusion
It is a very powerful platform help to create the application written in Python programming language. As the code needs to be written once and can be used in other platforms (like Windows, Linux, iOS and Linux), this feature makes the framework popular and preferred by the developers.
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This is a guide to What is Kivy. Here we discuss the introduction, needs, and importance of Kivy along with its advantages and disadvantages. You may also have a look at the following articles to learn more –
